The Best Lenses for iPhone Photography

After more than 16 hours of research during which we considered 70 lens attachments and tested 15 models (with hands-on shooting that included a hiking trip through the Cascade Mountains and sightseeing on a Grand Canyon road trip), we found that Moment’s Tele and Wide mobile-photography lenses are the best for avid smartphone photographers. They offer image quality as good as that of anything we tested, along with a straightforward attachment system that doesn’t lock you into using a case you don’t like (unlike most of the competition).

10 months ago:
Some Moment lens owners are seeing notable vignetting (dark corners) with the Moment mount on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Moment is aware of the issue and is working on a fix—the company estimates that new mounting plates will be sent in about six weeks, and to reach out if you have this problem.

11 months ago:
After a new round of researching and testing dozens more iPhone lens attachments, we’ve determined that Moment's Tele and Wide lenses remain our top choice for most smartphone shooters. We also have a new budget pick, the Aukey PL-WD03 110° Wide Angle Lens & Case Set—a bargain, but one that will work only with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. At the time of our testing, no lens manufacturers had released lens systems for the iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, but we’ll continue to update this piece as they become available, and we’ll include more details on how our top pick works with the new phones.

12 months ago:
Moment representatives have told us that Moment lenses work on the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and that the company is working on mounts to fit the phones snugly. The mounts should be out in late November, with new cases available for both phones next year. Moment also recently announced a new 15mm-equivalent lens, the Superfish, which we’ve added to the What to look forward to section below.

One year ago:
With the announcement of the iPhone 7, which has a redesigned lens, and the iPhone 7 Plus, which has a dual-lens system, we’re waiting to see what iPhone lenses will work with the new bodies and how. Moment has released a statement saying that it’s waiting to get an iPhone 7 in hand. We’ll post an update here as soon as we know more.

Two years ago:
Moment has confirmed that both the telephoto and wide-angle versions of our top pick are back in stock and should stay that way for the foreseeable future.

Two years ago:
We expect that both the telephoto and wide-angle versions of our top pick will be back in stock on Moment’s online store and ready to ship by early next week.

Two years ago:
Our top pick is currently sold out, but expected to restock in the next few weeks. If you need something now, the iPro Lens System is a great alternative, though at a higher price tag. It includes a phone case that is used to mount each lens, excellent build quality available in several sizes, and a lens case that doubles as a handle. For a lower cost alternative, the CamKix is a comprehensive set featuring a silly looking but powerful 8x tele lens, a fish-eye lens, a combo macro and wide-angle lens and a mini tripod. Lens and quality can’t compare, but it’s a fun gadget to expand your iPhone photography.

We specifically aimed our search at lenses for recent iPhones, but the Moment lenses are also compatible with older iPhone models (as well as with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus) and with the iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPad Pro, plus several Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Note models and the Nexus 5.

This set works only with iPhone 6/6s (Plus) models, but for about the cost of a business lunch, it offers a great starter lens plus a serviceable case.

The Aukey PL-WD03 110° Wide Angle Lens & Case Set lets you capture more of what’s around you at a tiny fraction of the price of the Moment offerings, but it produces images with noticeably more distortion and vignetting. The case, which is compatible with iPhone 6/6s (Plus) handsets, is easy to put on and take off and offers some protection and grip while you’re shooting, but we still prefer the Moment lenses’ ability to work with many different cases. Aukey has no plans to update its case for the iPhone 7, but the case does come with a clip mount that’s functional (though not as effective for keeping the lens in place).

If you have an iPhone 7 Plus, and want a cheap lens set to play with, the Kamerar Zoom Lens Kits offer just that. For approximately one-third the price of the Moment lenses, you get a case with a slide in/slide out lens set that works over both lenses on the iPhone 7 Plus. The images are much softer than those captured on the Moment lens, and the fish-eye lens is less useful than the Moment wide-angle, but for just playing around it’s a great option.

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Why you should trust me

From left: iPro, Moment, and CamKix lenses, along with the world’s cutest dog.

I have more than 16 years of experience as a photojournalist, writer, and professional photographer. I started my career as a photojournalist so long ago, I’ve actually used something called “film.” I’ve worked as a photographer and written about photography ever since in venues that include my role as mobile imaging editor at DPReview, the most popular camera site on the Web. In that time I’ve gained many years of real-world experience researching, testing, and writing about photography trends, techniques, and tools.

Who should get this

Avid smartphone photographers understand that they are shooting with an amazing portable and connected camera that also comes with certain limitations. Among those is the fixed wide-angle lens (equivalent to 29mm for the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, the phones that we tested with). Although you’ve always been able to digitally zoom in on subjects using your smartphone camera, doing so reduces overall resolution, which produces a grainier photo. The iPhone 7 Plus is an exception in that it has two lenses, the traditional 29mm wide and a new 58mm telephoto; this setup lets you appear twice as close to your subject, without reducing resolution. However, this technology can only zoom in, not out.

By adding extra optics directly on top of your phone’s existing camera, lens attachments allow you to appear either closer to your subject or farther away from it without reducing resolution. This mimics the effect you’d get from switching lenses on a DSLR or mirrorless camera. But because you’re putting additional lenses in front of an existing lens, many lens attachments produce photos with noticeable blurriness and color distortion around the edges of the frame. So you still have plenty of good reasons to go with an actual DSLR or mirrorless camera, especially if you plan on printing your photos. But smartphone lens kits are fun to play around with for photographers of all skill levels, and the best among them can produce surprisingly sharp images.

We didn’t consider “sport” or active systems, such as the Optrix by Body Glove. These systems seem to fall into another category altogether in which the goal is to transform your smartphone into something more akin to an action camera rather than solely focusing on optics. We might look at this segment in the future.

How we picked

We considered a wide swath of iPhone lens accessories. In a clockwise spiral from top left: CamKix, iPro, Manfrotto, Moment, Ztylus, ExoLens, AGPtek, Olloclip, and Photojojo lenses.

We looked for a mobile-photography lens that would fit the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus. Not every lens will work with the last, though, and we’re keeping our eyes open for more that will.

Above all, we wanted a lens attachment that helped to produce amazing photos. A wider angle or zoom shouldn’t cause significant distortion (warped objects or altered perspective) or vignetting (darkening at the edges of the frame). People have come to expect excellent photo quality from their smartphones; a lens should enhance, not deteriorate, your images.

A good iPhone lens attachment should be easy to use and highly portable. If it’s a hassle to use, you won’t bother.

We focused on finding a good wide-angle option and a good telephoto option, as those are the most commonly available choices and often the most practical applications of iPhone lenses—namely, offering wider shots or closer zooms than the iPhone camera’s fixed lens can provide. Macro and fish-eye lenses are the next most common, though they tend to fall more into the “fun” category, as the iPhone already allows you to shoot quite close to objects and the fish-eye look is likely one you wouldn’t use in your everyday arsenal.

A good iPhone lens attachment should be easy to use and highly portable. If it’s a hassle to use, you won’t bother.

Similarly, you shouldn’t have to use a specific case if you can avoid it. But if a specific case is required, it should be good enough that you would consider using it every day. (Or it should be so easy to apply and remove that you don’t mind doing so.) On the flip side, a lens attachment shouldn’t require you to use your expensive smartphone without any protection. People use cameras differently from how they use phones, and since a lens add-on can change the ergonomics of your phone, you should have some protection for it in case you drop it while trying to get in position for the perfect shot.

A lens should enhance, not deteriorate, your images.

Finally, a lens attachment shouldn’t run you more than $100. Such an add-on ought to be a fun gadget, and we can’t imagine spending more than a Benjamin for the luxury. (Of course, if iPhoneography is your passion and you have the dough to spare, Moment, for one, now offers a full suite of lens options—wide, telephoto, macro, and fish-eye—and extras.)

For this guide, we read up on every recommended smartphone lens attachment we could find on the Internet, including considering what highly respected review sites such as The Phoblographer, CNET, Fstoppers, Cult of Mac, and Macworld had to say. We also asked friends of various levels of smartphone-photography prowess what they would want out of such an attachment.

About the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus

With every new version of the iPhone, lens manufacturers work to modify or reinvent their products to fit the new device. The dual-lens system of the iPhone 7 Plus makes designing add-on lenses for that model slightly more difficult, because even when in 2x mode the camera will still sometimes use the wider lens, opting for digital zoom over optical zoom, and will always use the wider lens for metering information. We’ve now seen some interesting solutions to this problem in hand, with our main pick of Moment releasing a redesigned mount for the iPhone 7 Plus but facing issues with vignetting; our new alternative pick for iPhone 7 Plus users, the Kamerar’s Zoom Lens Kit for iPhone 7 Plus, and Olloclip’s latest lens sets that allow you to flip the attachment to fit over either rear camera lens on the iPhone 7 Plus.

How we tested

We took each lens out for some real-world testing around Seattle.

Since 2015, we’ve conducted hands-on testing with 15 iPhone lens models. We tested well-known options from Olloclip and Photojojo, as well as from names that are big in the camera world, such as Manfrotto and Zeiss, and lenses that our readers asked about, such as the Ztylus Z-Prime Lens Kit. We toted these lenses around Seattle, testing them in some everyday shooting situations. We filled our backpack with them and put them to work while hiking in the Cascade Mountains. And we brought them along on an epic summer road trip to see the Grand Canyon.

The variety of testing conditions allowed us see how the lenses performed in real life, helping us determine not just how they performed photographically but also how convenient they were for shooting on the go.

We carefully reviewed the results to determine which models were acceptable, and we considered this further hands-on experience to reach our final conclusion.

Our pick

Moment sells a .63x-magnification wide lens (18mm equivalent) and a 2x telephoto lens (60mm equivalent), as well as macro and fish-eye versions (not pictured). A metal plate adheres to your phone and offers a bayonet-style mount.

Moment’s Tele and Wide lenses stood above the competition thanks to their impressive image quality, their simple attachment method (which works with many third-party iPhone cases), and their ease of use and portability. We tested both the .63x-magnification wide-angle lens (about 1.5 times as wide as the standard iPhone lens, an 18mm equivalent) and the 2x telephoto lens (60mm equivalent). Moment also offers the Macro lens and the newest addition to the lineup, the 15mm-equivalent Superfish. (In an appeal to photography fanatics, Moment markets each lens by defining equivalent lens length in the nomenclature typically reserved for full-frame camera systems.)

A bayonet-style mount on a metal plate that adheres to your phone allows you to attach your Moment lenses with just a quick turn.

In our tests images came out crisp and clear, with very little distortion and no vignetting. We noted only minimal chromatic aberration (a common problem with cheaply made lenses in which colors fringe and blur, especially at high-contrast edges).

The Moment 0.63x lens is about half again as wide as an iPhone’s standard lens.

One of the first things you’ll notice is the heavy feel of the glass in your hand. Moment lenses attach to your phone via a stainless steel mounting plate that sticks to the back of your iPhone using a strong but not permanent 3M adhesive. (You can remove the plate by applying heat—Moment says a blow dryer will loosen the bond of the adhesive without damaging your phone—and extra plates are available to fit many popular smartphones.) The mounting plate is slim and blends into the body of the phone well. A bayonet mounting system on the plate lets you twist the lens on, much as you would with an interchangeable-lens camera. The mounting ring is small enough that you can use it through the camera opening on many slim phone cases, including our pick for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the Incipio NGP, which means your favorite method of iPhone protection should work with Moment lenses.

The iPhone camera's normal view.

Each lens comes with its own soft cloth drawstring bag, which can also be useful for wiping off smudges. The lenses are easy to toss into a bag or jacket pocket (but could be a bit bulky in the pocket of some skinny jeans). If you’re ready to invest further in mobile photography, Moment offers many more accessories, from magnetic lens caps to wrist and neck straps to luxurious cases that include a shutter button with half-press functionality when paired with the Moment app. That app offers separate focus and and exposure controls, and recently raw-photo capabilities were added for newer versions of the iPhone. All this continuing innovation is reassuring if you’re looking to invest in a system that’s changing fast.

We aren’t the only ones who like Moment lenses. Kyle Ford of Fstoppers writes, “From lens design to the packaging they were brilliant…. [They] deliver the quality beyond the price point.”

As CNET’s Lori Grunin points out, “The bright, clear glass doesn’t seem to reduce the amount of light reaching the phone’s lens.” We found the same in our testing.

The Phoblographer’s Chris Gampat writes, “If you’re looking to step up the game of what your mobile phone can do, then the Moment lenses are seriously your best bet.” Later, Gampat concludes, “These lenses are sharp, offer beautiful bokeh, and even though the color rendition isn’t the great right out of the camera, that can easily be fixed in a world where everyone edits their images and applies their favorite filter before uploading.”

Long-term test notes

We’ve continued to use the Moment Tele and Moment Wide over the past year, and we’re still pleased with the high-quality results. The mounting plate remains firmly in place, and the bayonet mounting system still functions smoothly. The lens hood is scratched on the edges, and trips to the beach seem to leave lingering granules of sand, but the image quality hasn’t suffered, and the lenses themselves remain unscathed. We were happy to learn that the manufacturer now offers a Lens Pen for keeping the lenses clean, as dust and sand can easily begin to collect in a lens that you can take along most anywhere.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

A Moment lens isn’t a cheap toy. It won’t fit with every phone case, especially if you prefer a bulkier option. And as with all the lenses we tested, you can’t use your phone camera’s flash, which the lens attachment covers up. Also, if you’re careful, the lens attachment will remain mounted until you unscrew it, but if you toss your phone into a bag, the lens can become dislodged. We recommend removing the lens from the mount before stowing your handset in a bag or backpack to avoid having to hunt for it and to prevent any uncovered lens surfaces from attracting dust or smudges.

Even with the tweaked mounting plate, you still see some dark corners with Moment lenses on the iPhone 7 Plus.

If you have an iPhone 7 Plus, you may encounter some vignetting in your images. We first noticed the dark corners when testing one of the newest mounting plates designed for the iPhone 7 Plus in December. Unfortunately, with the first batch of plates came the revelation that changes in the iPhone 7’s tolerances and new focus mechanisms have caused some people to get dark corners in their photos. Moment replaced these plates with a tweaked design in January 2017, which improved but didn’t fix the problem. Though the dark corners are slightly less noticeable with the newest mounting plate and probably not an issue in everyday shooting, if you find vignetting annoying and detrimental to your photos, this might be a dealbreaker for you.

Budget pick

The Aukey lens-and-case set offers great quality for $15, but it doesn’t hold up next to our main pick.

This set works only with iPhone 6/6s (Plus) models, but for about the cost of a business lunch, it offers a great starter lens plus a serviceable case.

If you’re not willing to spend almost $100 on a smartphone accessory, or if you just don’t think you’d use a high-quality lens attachment often enough to justify such a cost, the Aukey PL-WD03 110° Wide Angle Lens & Case Set is a bargain entry-level lens-and-case combo for the iPhone 6/6s and iPhone 6/6s Plus. (The company has no plans for an iPhone 7 case, but this model does come with a clip mount that isn’t as secure but works on any phone.) The set’s slim black case snaps over your phone and allows you to screw on a lens attachment.
Zoomed out, there's not much difference between images from the Moment and Aukey. But looking closer (click for a larger version), you can see the Moment stays sharp even at the edges...

Compared with other low-cost lenses we tested, the Aukey delivered better-quality images with less distortion or vignetting. But the image quality was noticeably worse when we compared it closely with that of the Moment lenses. The center of the image was pretty good, but we saw distortion and softness as our attention moved toward the edges; the flimsy case-mount method can cause vignetting occasionally if the lens is not attached perfectly (something that other reviewers have also noted). The case is also limiting, as you’ll need to keep it on while using the lens—our top pick, in contrast, lets you use the case of your choice. Although the Aukey case is easy enough to remove if you don’t like the style, you’re still left carrying or stowing both the case and the lens, which is less convenient. The system comes with a clip attachment, too, but the case does a better job of keeping the lens flush with the lens of your smartphone camera. Aukey representatives told us that two of the company’s other lenses, a fish-eye/wide/macro combo and a 3x zoom, would also fit the case. In addition, however, the reps said that Aukey had no plans to continue making lenses with a case, so when you upgrade your phone, you’ll have to seek out a new lens system.

The Aukey offers the best image quality among affordable lenses.

Compared with other low-cost lenses we tested, the Aukey delivered better-quality images with less distortion or vignetting.

In our tests the wide-angle lens stayed firmly connected to the case and didn’t fall off even when we stuffed the phone into pockets and purses repeatedly. It’s about the same size as our top pick, but the lower-quality glass is lighter in weight. It also comes with a snap-on plastic cap. The case is easy to put on and take off, and it offers some protection and grip while you’re shooting, but it isn’t our top choice among iPhone cases.

If you have the iPhone 7 Plus and you’re just looking for an entry-level smartphone photography accessory that lets you play around with its dual lens system, the Kamerar Zoom Lens Kit for iPhone 7 Plus is an inexpensive case-mounted option. Two side-by-side lenses come in a small plate slightly larger than a stamp. The plate slides into a bracket on the back of the Kamerar case and can be pushed up and over the iPhone’s camera lenses or back into the bracket when not in use. The Kamerar comes with two lens sets, a fish-eye and 1.5x telephoto set, and a 10x macro zoom set.

Kamerar’s fish-eye and telephoto aren’t as high-quality as Moment’s lenses, but can be fun.

The lens quality can’t compare withw our top pick’s, with soft and slightly hazy images, and the fish-eye and macro effects are less useful in everyday shooting than Moment’s wide-angle—but this is a fun plaything for iPhone 7 Plus users for its price. The fish-eye lens delivers a thick vignetting and edge distortion, the telephoto element doesn’t offer significantly more reach than the phone’s built-in lenses, and the tiny optics degrade overall quality and clarity of images. You’ll also still need to use a third-party app to ensure your iPhone 7 Plus uses the lens you want it to, rather than trying to choose on its own.

The slim case feels cheap and a bit too slippery to become a case we’d want to use every day, but generally is inoffensive enough to use even when you’re not actively shooting with the lens attachment. At least it’s simple to put on and take off, and does ensure your phone is protected while you’re shooting. When not in use, each lens attachment can be stowed in the small boxes they come in, or one can slide down into the bracket on the case. Despite being carried around in pockets and purses during our testing, the lens only popped off the bracket once.

Care and maintenance

All lenses require cleaning, and Moment lenses are so small, it’s easy to get your fingerprints on them when you’re handling them. The cloth bag they come with absolutely works to wipe off common smudges, but for more serious cleaning you should use the same microfiber cloth and special lens cleaner you might use on DSLR lenses. While you’re at it, clean the lens on your smartphone, too.

A small tripod may help to prevent blurring, since any time you add weight and length to your camera lens, the possibility for camera shake increases.

Moment offers a magnetic lens cap, too, and it might be worth the $5 investment if you find yourself leaving the lens attached for significant lengths of time (the cap is secure enough to stay on when you stick your phone with the lens attached into a pocket or bag) or if your lens is getting more smudges than you’d like to see.

Be sure to align the Moment mounting plate correctly. If it’s misaligned, vignetting could mar your images. An additional adhesive is included in the package if you need to try again. A slim case will help to protect the mounting plate from getting bent or damaged; if the plate is bent, the lenses may not attach correctly. You can try bending the mount back into position and reattaching it with the extra adhesive, but if that doesn’t work, additional mounting plates are available for $10. Moment also offers some helpful troubleshooting FAQs.

The competition

Over the past year spent researching and evaluating iPhone lenses, we gathered 15 models for a closer look and hands-on testing.

The high-quality iPro Lens System from Schneider Optics (now discontinued) was our alternative pick last year for anyone who wanted more lens choices and was willing to spend more. But Moment now offers a full suite of lenses—wide, telephoto, macro, and fish-eye—at a better price. Moment has also started shipping iPhone 7 and 7 Plus compatible mounts, whereas iPro has indicated it has no plans to.

The ExoLens offers large lenses and a unique mount but doesn’t give you the option to use a protective case.

The latest version of the ExoLens, the result of a pairing with lens maker Zeiss, piqued our interest. The large lenses are nearly the size of those on a mirrorless camera. The angular metal attachment system can’t possibly fit with a case, however, so you end up shooting with a large lens that feels off-balance and seems to put both your phone and lens attachment at risk. And in our tests, these were some of the worst lenses we tried: We thought all that sizable glass would be ideal for capturing the majesty of the Grand Canyon, but we ended up with blurry images and dark edges. We think our ExoLens mount may have moved, but that isn’t something a smartphone shooter wants to be constantly checking for while snapping away.

Our ExoLens mount moved out of place, leading to blurry images with dark edges.

Olloclip’s latest iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus lens systems still present a case conundrum for us: You’re either forced to go caseless, or pay even more to use an Olloclip-specific case. The $100 fish-eye/superwide/macro Core Lens Set attachment is so snug that it couldn’t fit with any of the super-slim cases we tried without resulting in some serious vignetting. A new $30 Olloclip case should be available in early March, but this pushes the final price notably past the $100 mark, and though we’ve not yet seen the latest case in hand, we didn’t like the flimsy feel of last version. If we put our case concerns aside (though we won’t because we firmly believe that when you’re using your phone as a camera is exactly when you’re putting it at the most risk), the newly redesigned lenses are interesting. The system fits over both the front and rear lenses simultaneously, and it’s fun to use a fish-eye when you’re snapping a selfie. You can also switch the rear camera lens attachment to fit over either lens of the iPhone 7 Plus, which becomes especially interesting with a third-party app like ProCamera that allows you to selectively shoot with the phone’s 2x lens. We wish Olloclip offered an option that included its tele and superwide in a single set: Instead, the slightly more expensive Active Lens Set pairs the tele with an ultrawide, which produces a more comically distorted effect than the more useful superwide found in the Core Lens Set.

Our previous budget pick, the CamKix Camera Lens Kit for iPhone 6/6s, is still a fun toy, and it offers a fish-eye lens, a combo macro, a wide-angle lens, and a rather ridiculous-looking 8x telephoto (which requires the included mini tripod) all for about $45. But our new top budget pick, the Aukey PL-WD03 lens and case set, wins out with better lens quality at a serious bargain price of $15.

Photojojo’s lenses are cheap, but they’re hard to use with a case.

Photojojo’s Magnetic iPhone and Android Lens Series is one of the most popular among the magnetic attachments offered online, but we couldn’t get over the fact that you could have a hard time using these lenses with a case. If your favorite case has a large enough opening to allow these lenses to fit (our favorite case doesn’t, and it has a fairly standard-size opening), they’re another fun option at $20 a pop, but they produce too much barrel distortion and vignetting for more serious mobile photography.

Photojojo’s newest Iris Lens Series looks expectedly fresh and hip, but installation rests on an elastic band that can move and shift, and pop off. The setup feels complicated, and the really heavy lenses feel imbalanced.

For nearly every category of iPhone lenses—such as magnetic lenses—you can find several manufacturers hawking what appear to be identical products on Amazon. For example, compare Photojojo’s iPhone Lens Series with Wonbsdom’s 4 in 1 offering or Patuoxun’s 3 in 1 variant. When we encountered seemingly identical products in our research, we took price, reviews, and manufacturer credibility into consideration.

We saw many clip-on lens systems similar to AGPtek’s 4 in 1 Cell Phone Camera Lens Kit (now discontinued), but you get what you pay for at this level: In our tests, image quality suffered greatly without gaining much zoom or producing a usable wide-angle result. Images were quite distorted, with dark edges.

Other models looked more promising. The Lensoul Wide Angle Lens offered better lens quality at an affordable price and worked with a slim case, but in our tests the clip slid around a lot and shifted the lens away from the center of the camera.

Mpow proves that bigger is not always better with its substantial V3 wide-angle lens, which weighs nearly as much as my Canon 50mm lens and is almost as big. In our tests all that glass felt heavy and made the iPhone feel unbalanced, and barrel distortion was obvious.

Other manufacturers offer lens systems with cases, including Manfrotto’s Klyp+ system and the Ztylus kit. The Klyp+ case’s sharp, hard-plastic edges felt awful in the hand, and we really had to use a lot of force to put it on and take it off our phone, all the while wincing at the feeling that something was about to break.

The Ztylus Revolver Kit lets you flip through a macro, a wide-angle, a fish-eye, and a circular polarizing filter contained within a component of the case. But it’s tricky to install and remove, as a small screw holds the bottom and top pieces together. In our testing we managed not to lose the screw, but we felt like it was only a matter of time until we did. Another disappointment: The velvety inner lining began to wrinkle each time we removed the case, until it became almost impossible to manhandle the case off. Tearing off the lining seemed to resolve the issue, but we don’t think we should have to modify a $100 gadget in such a way. It’s true that the Ztylus case system may be something you’re meant to commit to, but we found the case too smooth and potentially slippery to buy into such a commitment.

The Ztylus Z-Prime Lens Kit uses the same style of case as the Ztylus Revolver Kit, but the new version we tested lacked the middle velvety lining part that had given us trouble previously. Unfortunately, the wide-angle lens produced a lot of distortion and blurring, particularly in one spot.

Since we sought out items that addressed the two most common lens-attachment uses in mobile photography—the need for a wider angle and the need to zoom in optically—we dismissed more novel options such as the tilt-shift Lensbaby LM-10 Sweet Spot Lens.

What to look forward to

The dual-lens system of the iPhone 7 Plus has presented an interesting challenge for lens makers but we’ve started to see some interesting solutions.

Moment first responded with an updated metal mount for iPhone 7 phones, but they’ve now launched a new Kickstarter campaign for a redesigned wide-angle lens, a new lens mount, and new smartphone cases—and will move away from its current metal plate mounting system. If funded, the redesigned Moment Wide will be aspherical, and 30 percent larger, with a bigger interface to fit over the iPhone’s lens. The larger mount should help with the ongoing vignetting issues on the iPhone 7 Plus. Moment will also offer an adapter to its existing lenses to mount onto the new cases. The new design means that Moment lenses will require a Moment case, moving away from the current metal plate mounting system.

A forthcoming case for the ExoLens Pro, due this spring, could prove interesting. We’re hoping it’ll improve the mounting system that has been the ExoLens’ downfall so far. Though pricing has not yet been announced, it’s likely ExoLens will remain a splurge for most smartphone shooters as the current ExoLens Pro with Edge Bracket mount is priced at $200.

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Erin Lodi has more than 15 years of experience as a photojournalist, writer,
and professional photographer. Her work has appeared on DPReview.com,
PopPhoto, FLTR magazine, and more. She practices aloha, lifestyle
photography, and hot yoga in both Seattle and Maui.

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